Webcomicstravaganza!

Web comics are so much fun. While most of the print comics iconography and conventions are still used in web comics, there are also some aspects that are made uniquely possible through the medium. The roll over text that appears in some comics, such as xkcd, is an example of such innovation. 

 

 This single panel comic gets its point across humorously with just the panel and caption at first, but then gets another tangentially related pun in the roll over text. (For the record, a wide screen Animorphs movie would be awesome).

Web comics, like all digital media, are also so very easy to share. Did you just stumble across a super hilarious comic and want to share it with your friend in another state (or another country)?  Just copy the url and paste it into the social media outlet, email, instant messaging service, etc. of your choice, and your friend can view it too. As a side note, always try to find the original source of the comic to share, so the artist will get the credit and exposure he/she deserves.

While I did not go through the entire archives of all the web comics posted this week, I did at least sample all of them and then flew through the entirety of a few. Here are some of my favorites.

I completely loved JL8 by Yale Stewart! Even though I am not really a superhero comics fan, and thus don't know complete backstories to all these characters, I still know enough in general about their characters to get the jokes. Plus the concept and design of these lil' superheroes were too adorable not to love. Wee Batman's melodramatic attitude was a fun little poke at how serious his character has become in the more recent movies. I cracked up at his and Diana's little exchange below.





Next up is Stop Paying Attention by Lucy Knisley. It's not cheating to talk about the comic I suggested is it? I don't really care, because I enjoy and am inspired by this comic. Mostly just because I relate so well to this comic. Like me, Knisley is a young professional still trying to figure life out (not that anyone ever stops trying to figure life out). As she is a couple years older that me, her updates always seem to predict issues I will struggle with very soon. I stumbled upon this particular comic just when I was applying to graduate schools and wasn't sure how my then boyfriend (of 5 years, just like the comic, what a coincidence) and I would work things out. Unlike the comic he moved with me, but at the time it really hit home for me and helped me think through it.


This is the first time I've seen Unshelved by Gene Ambaum and Bill Barnes online, instead of printed out on a librarian's desk, wall, office door. While not exactly a comic that would likely interest youth, it is definitely a fun way to see how universal the issues librarians face really are. Some strips are little more cynical than others, such as this patron who wants to get rid of all graphic novels.